Continued from Part.1, Aesthetics.
Some people will call it an innovation, while the others say it is a crazy idea. A ⌀13 mm driver for the woofer, a ⌀8 mm driver for the mid-range unit, and a ⌀6 mm driver for the tweeter coupled into one IEM? That is 3DD, designed by Unique Melody, a well-known custom IEM manufacturer from the mainland China.
Oh, but they do not simply end there.. On the back of the woofer, there is an adjustable bass tuner made of a magnet, so that the damper, which is also magnetic, can stick on the woofer conveniently. As a result, the level of bass can be precisely tweakable, and the magnetic flux density of the woofer's magnet is effectively increased(thus its electroacoustic efficiency if the resulting B is any significant at all).
PRO: Wide frequency bandwidth, linear impedance characteristic, and low distortion. 3DD clearly exhibits the best electroacoustic performance compared to all of (semi or not)custom IEMs that have been measured so far.
CON: The magnetic bass tuner is extremely hard to replace, especially when it is flipped upside down.
ON SECOND THOUGHT #1: This data may concern the custom version users as well, since their insertion depth should be somewhere between the reference plane(2nd bend) and roughly 3 mm away from it. Surprisingly, unlike other custom IEMs, 3DD's optimum insertion depth is quite shallow, which is located about 3 ~ 6 mm away from the reference plane.
ON SECOND THOUGHT #2: Even if 3DD is equipped with a source device with high output impedance, the IEM's maximum damping error does not exceed 2 dB at most. Considering the fact that there are three drivers coupled together, such electric damping characteristic is impressive.
ON SECOND THOUGHT #3: As there are erratic peaks in the treble, some users might want to add acoustic damping materials at the nozzle in order to suppress the resulting harshness.
ON SECOND THOUGHT #4: 3DD's proprietary magnetic bass tuner is
absolutely brilliant; not only its precision is bit-perfect with accurate acoustic resistance value, the tuner also doesn't affect the other frequency range at all. Since 3DD comes with 3 stock magnetic dampers(black 88 Ω, black-white 94 Ω, and white 100 Ω), users get to finely adjust the level of bass depending on their personal preference.
ON SECOND THOUGHT #5: And here's my recommended setting for 3DD users: Simply add a piece of ear foam(3mm x 3mm x 1mm) into the nozzle, and equip the white damper(100 Ω) onto the bass tuner.
ON SECOND THOUGHT #6: I don't honestly think 3DD needs additional tweak here. It has an adequate level of bass(adjustable), wide bandwidth, and frequency response linearity. Therefore, the IEM shall be listed on my favorites list!
ADDITIONAL INFORMATION:
Manufacturer's website: http://www.custom-iem.com/
MSRP: $599 (-$100 for universal)
Hi Rin, what kind of material is "ear foam"? Also there seems to be a 10 db dip at around 7 khz as compared to the Olive Welti target, how does it sound like and do you think it it should be corrected (with EQ or otherwise)?
ReplyDeleteHow are you, naisan. Search for "ear foam for ear buds" on ebay/Amazon. They sell em by bulk, and should be super cheap.. I don' think the dip is much of a problem, and can easily be compensated with the nozzle foam mod, as seen above.
DeleteDid you measure a universal fit, or one made for your ears?
ReplyDeletePlease refer to the Part.1 and see what it looks like :)
DeleteCan you tell me it is highly recommended iem for bass head(more toward V shap fr)??
ReplyDeleteIn its stock form, 3DD is pretty V-shaped, aka ドンシャリ. But if you really need a strong presence of low-mid bass, I'd say you need to look elsewhere.
DeleteHow does the bass vent affect isolation? I can't imagine these having as much isolation as some other IEMs with that vent on the back...
ReplyDeleteThe isolation is as good as any other CIEMS.
DeleteHello, Hin Choi! Why do you prefer the White (100Ω) damper? What do you think of the other two? And the overall sound? Thanks!!
ReplyDeleteHi Rin. How's the 3DD perform now? It's definitely burned-in well I might say...
ReplyDeleteHi Rin, sorry ressurect old post.
ReplyDeleteI had ex1000 few month ago, sell it because its fitting issue. How 3dd compare to ex1000?
thanks for sharing, very informative.
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